#development

Singapore hosts Coaching Course ahead of Beach Wrestling World Series

By United World Wrestling Press

SINGAPORE, Singapore (June 15) – The Wrestling Federation of Singapore in partnership with United World Wrestling hosted a Level 2 Coaching Course prior to the Beach Wrestling World Series Event.  With hosting a major competition for the first time in Singapore, it provided them a unique opportunity to also partner with UWW to provide education and to help develop their coaches.  The Wrestling Federation of Singapore has been very active in the past year. They participated in the courses and camps at the SEA Championships last December and recently participated in the SEA Games.  They have been looking to grow and develop the sport and this event provided a way to further develop their coaches.

The Level 2 Course was conducted by Mr. Zach ERRETT (USA) – UWW Education Manager.  The course had 16 participants (14 men and 2 women).  “The coaches in the course did an outstanding job! They were eager to learn, worked hard to improve, and showed great growth over the 5 days,” said Mr. Errett. 

SINGParticipants of the course go through an introduction and use of the seven basic skills in wrestling. (Photo: United World Wrestling)

The course was centered around many topics related to planning and delivering training sessions. The topics included improving coaching skills, introduction and use of the seven basic skills in wrestling, an introduction to performance analysis and how to use that in planning, theoretical framework to planning, practice plan activities, strength and conditioning within plans, and mental development of the wrestler. "Coaching is a transformative journey that unleashes the hidden potential within individuals, guiding them towards their own path of greatness. We express deep gratitude to Coach Educator Zach Errett and the UWW Development Department for their invaluable support in helping us achieve this remarkable growth. Zach's wealth of knowledge and impactful teaching style empowered our coaches with insights and experiences that resonated profoundly." Said Gabriel Huang, Director of Operations for Wrestling Federation of Singapore.

“It was extremely insightful and engaging. Thoroughly enjoyed the sharing sessions by the instructor as well as the other coaches so that we can learn from one another and improve on our individual coaching skills respectively,” said Caryl Li.

“Extremely informative and helpful for my journey as Coach. I now have tools and a greater network to fall back on if I ever face any challenges. This gives me the confidence and knowledge to tackle these hurdles,” said Christian Rodriques.

“Amazingly useful for everyone's future. I have learned way more than I expected coming in. I'm incredibly pleased with the course,” said Cassiano Laureano.

“Absolutely eye-opening! The course provided in-depth training on various techniques, strategies and coaching methodologies. On the other hand, the practical sessions allowed us to apply the concepts we learned. In short, I believe, the course was well organized and provided enriching experience,” said Ali Parvin

sinWrestling fans gather for the photo at the Beach Wrestling World Series event in Singapore. (Photo: United World Wrestling)

With hosting the Beach Wrestling World Series competition, it gave the Singapore Wrestling Federation an opportunity to promote wrestling to their community. During the competition and in between sessions, the coaches from the course delivered Wrestle4Fun activities. Wrestle4Fun is a programme to introduce wrestling through fun games and activities. In between sessions of the competition, the coaches were able to get kids out onto the sand in the field of play.  During that time, they played a number of Wrestle4Fun games and had an opportunity to learn about wrestling and beach wrestling.

“Overall, this was a great event!  It is always fun to work with many great coaches that are even better people. With the competition, it gave them a chance to really promote the sport to the community and children.  I am excited to see how they will continue to grow and raise the level of wrestling in their country," said Mr. Errett.

#WrestleAmman

Asian Championships 2025 Preview

By United World Wrestling Press

AMMAN, Jordan (March 20) -- The 2025 Asian Championships will be held in Amman, Jordan from March 25 to 30. More than 370 wrestlers from across the continent will compete in Amman, a city which is hosting the Asian Championships for the first time in its history.

The Asian Championships will be live on uww.org and UWW+. Follow United World Wrestling on Instagram, YouTube, X, Facebook and TikTok.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL PREVIEW HERE | Asian Championships 2025 Entries

Text version:

While Iran has dominated the Asian scene for a long time in wrestling, Japan has emerged as the new challenger to its dominance. The Asian Championships in Amman will provide more insight into Japan's ever-improving wrestling program which helped it win eight gold medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Undoubtedly, Japan is the supreme power in Women's Wrestling. But for the 2025 Asian Championships, it is bringing strong teams in Freestyle and Greco-Roman as well. Iran, on the other hand, is banking on young stars in Freestyle and mixing youth and experience in Greco-Roman.

Another big talking point of the tournament is the return of Olympic champion Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN) after his shoulder surgery. He has won the Asian, World and Asian Games and Olympic gold medals over the last two years.

Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI)Olympic champion Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI) is is the defending 67kg champion at Asian Championships. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kostadin Andonov)

Greco-Roman

With two Olympic champions and several age-group and senior world champs, Iran's juggernaut in Greco-Roman is set to continue at the Asian Championships. Led by Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI) and Mohammadhadi SARAVI (IRI) at 67kg and 97kg respectively, Iran will be hoping to win at least five gold medals.

Add to the list the phenom Fardin HEDAYATI (IRI) at 130kg, who is quickly rising to be the best Greco-Roman in the super heavyweight class.

Poya DAD MARZ (IRI) at 55kg, Pouya NASERPOUR (IRI) at 60kg, Danial SOHRABI (IRI) at 72kg, Alireza ABDEVALI (IRI) at 77kg, Mohammad NAGHOUSI (IRI) at 82kg and Yasin YAZDI (IRI) at 87kg complete the line-up expected to dominate at the Asian Championships.

Kaito INABA (JPN)Kaito INABA (JPN) is the returning 60kg silver medalist. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

The big question is -- can Japan, or any other country, challenge Iran?

Katsuaki ENDO (JPN) at 67kg, Kaito INABA (JPN) at 60kg, and Taizo YOSHIDA (JPN) at 82kg are among the favorites to win the gold medals. Yoshida is the returning champion at 82kg and one of the biggest prospects of the Nippon Sports Science University (NSSU) that produced five out of eight Japanese gold medalists in Paris. Endo and Inaba, both from NSSU, have past experience and can go all the way on their day.

In total, six of the 10 Japanese Greco-Roman wrestlers train at NSSU. [High-school student Yoshida will formally join NSSU on April 1].

A few other challengers to these two countries include returning champion Yu Chol RO (PRK) and bronze medalist Ulan MURATBEK UULU (KGZ) at 55kg, Paris bronze medalist Se Ung RI (PRK), and U23 world champion Alisher GANIEV (UZB) will be the key names at 60kg.

Kyrgyzstan is without its three Paris medalists Zholaman SHARSHENBEKOV (KGZ), Akzhol MAKHMUDOV (KGZ) and Uzur DZHUZUPBEOKV (KGZ) but the likes of Razzak BEISHEKEEV (KGZ), Doolotbek CHOIBEKOV (KGZ), Yryskeldi KHAMZAEV (KGZ), Yryskeldi MAKSATBEK UULU (KGZ), Asan ZHANYSHOV (KGZ) will be hoping to climb the podium as a few of them did at the Muhamet Malo Ranking Series 2025.

Kazakhstan is clearly trying to rebuild its team as it has Yerbol KAMALIYEV (KAZ) and Meiirzhan SHERMAKHANBET (KAZ) and also veterans Ibragim MAGOMADOV (KAZ) and Alimkhan SYZDYKOV (KAZ) among others.

Amirreza MASOUMI (IRI)Amirreza MASOUMI (IRI) is looking for his first Asian Championships gold medal at 125kg. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Jake Kirkman)

Freestyle

Another style which Iran dominates at the Asian level. While it is not bringing its first team to Amman, Iran still has its young stars in Amirreza MASOUMI (IRI), Amirhossein FIROUZPOUR (IRI), Sina KHALILI (IRI) and a few others.

READ MORE: Masoumi's quest for wrestling history

Masoumi at 125kg is looking to win his first Asian medal that he missed in 2023, losing to world silver medalist Lkhagvagerel MUNKHTUR (MGL) and later to BUHEEERDUN (CHN). For Firouzpour, the road to gold should not have many hurdles.

Iran's bench strength will be tested in the other weight classes as it hopes to win medals with Khalili at 70kg, Ahmad JAVAN (IRI) at 61kg, Abbas EBRAHIMZADEH (IRI) at 65kg, Mohammad Reza SHAKERI (IRI) at 74kg, Mahdi YOUSEFI (IRI) at 79kg, Abolfazl RAHMANI (IRI) at 86kh and Mohammadmobin AZIMI (IRI) at 97kg.

Despite a relatively depleted squad, Japan still boasts of Rin SAKAMOTO (JPN) at 57kg, 2025 Muhamet Malo Ranking Series winner Takara SUDA (JPN) at 61kg, returning silver medalist at 70kg Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN), former world U20 silver Ryunosuke KAMIYA (JPN) at 79kg, former world U23 champion at 86kg Tatsuya SHIRAI (JPN), Paris Olympian Takashi ISHIGURO (JPN) at 92kg and former champion Arash YOSHIDA (JPN), who recently defeated Kyle SNYDER (USA) in Tirana, at 97kg.

Rizabek AITMUKHAN (KAZ)Rizabek AITMUKHAN (KAZ) will look to upgrade his silver medal at 97kg this year. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Kazakhstan's two world champs in Freestyle -- Rizabek AITMUKHAN (KAZ) and Nurkozha KAIPANOV (KAZ) -- will be in action. Aitmukhan, an Asian silver medalist, will once again challenge Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN) who he lost to.

Kaipnov will be challenging the 74kg field, a category one weight up. Azamat DAULETBEKOV (KAZ) will be moving to 92kg for the Asian Championships.

CHIRAG (IND)World U23 champion CHIRAG (IND) will lead India's challenge at the Asian Championships. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

India has won the 57kg gold medal four times out of the last five but the weight class is stacked for this year. Paris bronze medalist Gulomjon ABDULLAEV (UZB) entered will be the favorite to win the gold medal. He will be challenged by Milad VALIZADEH (IRI), Rin SAKAMOTO (JPN), Merey BAZARBAYEV (KAZ), Almaz SMANBEKOV (KGZ), Chong Song HAN (PRK) and Aiaal BELOLYUBSKII (TJK) among others.

While India's Paris medalist AMAN (IND) has skipped the tournament, world U23 champion CHIRAG (IND) will be leading the charge at 57kg. 2024 57kg silver medalist UDIT (IND) will be at 61kg while world U20 medalist SUJEET (IND) at 65kg. At 92kg, Deepak PUNIA (IND) is returning to action after missing the Paris berth.

Other than aforementioned stars, other big names include Tuvshintulga TUMENBILEG (MGL) and Kum Chol RI (PRK) at 61kg, Taiyrbek ZHUMASHBEK UULU (KGZ) and Umidjon JALOLOV (UZB) at 65kg, and Feng LU (CHN) and Arsalan BUDAZHAPOV (KGZ) at 79kg.

Battle at 70kg

While defending champion Amirmohammad YAZDANI (IRI) is not entered at 70kg, returning silver medalist Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN) will have his hands full.

Former world U23 champion Nachyn KUULAR (KAZ) will hope to put aside a forgetful Muhamet Malo Ranking Series and start afresh in Amman. Another world medalist Ernazar AKMATALIEV (KGZ) is long due for a rocking performance and Asian Championships offers the perfect platform to announce his return to the podium.

Add to the mix Asian Games champion and Asian silver medalist Tulga TUMUR OCHIR (MGL) who is not reducing his weight to fit into 65kg this edition. Then there is returning 74kg silver medalist Viktor RASSADIN (TJK) who is at 70kg as well, making this weight class the deepest in Freestyle.

Remina YOSHIMOTO (JPN)Remina YOSHIMOTO (JPN) is the 2022 and 2023 Asian champion at 50kg. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Women's Wrestling

As the Women's Wrestling powerhouse, Japan has entered seven world champions in 10 weight classes. In the remaining weight categories, it has two age-group world champs.

Nonoka OZAKI (JPN) at 62kg, the lone Paris medalist from Japan entered, will lead the charge along with 2024 world champs Moe KIYOOKA (JPN) at 55kg and Ami ISHII (JPN) at 68kg. Former world champion at 50kg Remina YOSHIMOTO (JPN), three-time world champion Haruna MURAYAMA (JPN) at 55kg, world U23 champion Sara NATAMI (JPN) at 57kg, world U20 champion at 59kg Sakura ONISHI (JPN), former world champion Miwa MORIKAWA (JPN) at 65kg, former world champion Masako FURUICHI (JPN) at 72kg, and Nodoka YAMAMOTO (JPN) at 76kg complete the line-up.

The possibility of all 10 returning with a medal is extremely high. China is likely to offer some resistance to this line-up and DPR Korea may surprise in some weight classes like it did at the 2022 Asian Games.

China is banking on world champion Qi ZHANG (CHN) who is now at 65kg, Paris bronze medalist Kexin HONG (CHN) at 57kg, world silver medalist Jin ZHANG (CHN) and U20 world champ Yu ZHANG (CHN). Former Asian champion Mengyu XIE (CHN) is wrestling at 59kg.

READ MORE: Zhang twins continue growth with gold at U20 Worlds 

DPR Korea will spice up Asian Championships in Women's Wrestling as it is likely to cause some disruptions. Its first medalist in Olympics, Hyo Gyong CHOE (PRK) is making her Asian Championships debut and will lead a team that consists of Myong Gyong WON (PRK) at 50kg, returning silver medalist at 55kg Kyong Ryong OH (PRK), World Military Championships gold medalist Il Sim SON (PRK) and Paris 5th placer Sol Gum PAK (PRK) among others.

ANTIM (IND)World bronze medalist ANTIM (IND) is wrestling for the first time after a disappointing Paris Olympics. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kostadin Andonov)

India, however, will have a young line-up to challenge Japan and China led by Paris Olympian world bronze medalist ANTIM (IND). Former world U23 champion REETIKA (IND) will be at 76kg and world U17 champion Mansi LATHER (IND) made it to her first senior team at 68kg.

Aiperi MEDET KYZY (KGZ), Elmira SYDYZKOVA (KAZ), Zhamila BAKBERGENOVA (KAZ), Laylokhon SOBIROVA (UZB), Aktenge KEUNIMJAEVA (UZB) and Delgermaa ENKHSAIKHAN (MGL) are a few other stars entered for the women's competition.